Student Team Wins Synchro’s University Challenge Award
A Texas A&M University-Commerce Construction Engineering student team recently developed and submitted a project for the 3rd Annual Synchro Exchange User Conference. On December 12, the team was notified that their work was chosen as the winner of Synchro's inaugural University Challenge Award.
“I heard about the challenge from my connections at Synchro,” said Associate Professor-Professional Track of Engineering and Technology Dr. Gregory Wilson. “I asked who would be interested in class, and these three raised their hands. They did all of the work. I just steered the ship.”
The guidelines for the competition were that teams made up of three students and a faculty advisor were to utilize Synchro software to create a Building Information Modeling (BIM) construction program. The A&M-Commerce group, led by Dr. Wilson, was made up of juniors Italo Cruz, Coydean Harmon and Tyler Lynch.
“This team was chosen because of its utilization of Synchro software and its enthusiasm,” said Synchro Vice President and University Relations Director Eric Olsen. “They showed us a great program, and they were excited about it. That's what we like to see.”
The $2,500 award will help the team pay for travel expenses. Cruz, Harmon and Lynch will be given the opportunity to present their project work and share their experience in the classroom at the conference at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida on January 20 and 21.
“It's really cool because you always hear about Synchro from everyone,” said Harmon. “Everyone is using their software. They talk about it in class, at conferences and about how it's going to be used in the workforce. That's why this is such a cool deal.”
Synchro is an international leading provider of scheduling and virtual reality simulation software for the construction industry in the field of BIM. Based in Birmingham, United Kingdom, the company says their objective is to deliver software with integrity and to deliver it with personalized, over the top, support services. With an office in the U.K., the U.S.A. and Jordan, Synchro provides services to companies like Ryan Companies, Inc., Hill International and Walt Disney Imagineering. The United States office, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has had a working relationship with A&M-Commerce for the last three years.
The company has even sent executives to the A&M-Commerce BIM Symposium which will be returning in March 2014. Dr. Wilson says they expect to see around 20 companies participating from all over the United States. As the symposium nears, more information will be available at Pride Online.